SEC v. Francisco Illarramendi, Highview Point, Michael Kenwood (ponzi schemes, 2015)

Judgment entered

✓ Checked against the primary document on October 4, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

Report an error in this record (sec-francisco-illarramendi-et-al-ponzi-schemes-2015) by email

In January 2015 the SEC reported that Francisco Illarramendi was sentenced to thirteen years in prison for the hedge fund fraud it charged in 2011 as a multi-year Ponzi scheme. The SEC's civil case ended with a May 24, 2017 final judgment against Illarramendi ($25,844,834 disgorgement, $1 million penalty) and a September 18, 2017 judgment against eight entities with injunctions only.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$1m

Disgorgement

$25.8m

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$26.8m

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The January 2015 release is a sentencing notice, not a civil judgment. Illarramendi, who had pleaded guilty to wire fraud, securities fraud, investment adviser fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice, was sentenced on January 29, 2015, with restitution to be set at a later hearing. In January 2011 the SEC charged him, Highview Point Partners and Michael Kenwood Capital Management with a Ponzi scheme; a receiver has distributed over $264 million. He was barred by consent in August 2011.

Outcome. SEC litigation release 23843 (May 24, 2017) says the District of Connecticut granted the SEC summary judgment against Illarramendi on April 13, 2017, relying on his admissions and the preclusive effect of his guilty plea, and entered final judgment on May 24, 2017: liability under Investment Advisers Act sections 206(1), (2) and (4), $25,844,834 in disgorgement, a $1 million civil penalty and a permanent injunction. Release 23936 (September 19, 2017) says a judgment entered September 18, 2017 against eight entities, including Highview Point Partners and Michael Kenwood Capital Management, enjoins the two advisers and Highview Point, was agreed without admitting or denying the allegations, and orders no disgorgement or penalty given the receiver's distributions of more than $330 million; the SEC says it resolves the litigation in its entirety. The release states Illarramendi is serving 13 years (156 months). This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes because the SEC describes use of new investor money to pay old investors; the tagging is ours, not the regulator's.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Ponzi schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2015-01-30 Litigation release published
2. 2017-05-24 Final judgment against Illarramendi: disgorgement and $1 million penalty
3. 2017-09-18 Final judgment against eight entities resolves the litigation

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release
• SEC litigation release 23843 (judgment against Illarramendi)
• SEC litigation release 23936 (judgment against entities)

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Same matter

The library links these 3 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.